


Down in the Dumps

by perniciousLizard



Series: Hot and Cold Blooded (Alphyne Collection) [16]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alphynecentric, Alphys Thinks About Giving Up, Alphys/Undyne-centric, F/F, Garbage Dump (Undertale), Mental Health Issues, POV Alphys, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 03:32:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15088088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perniciousLizard/pseuds/perniciousLizard
Summary: Alphys is trapped, but struggles to decide if she deserves to be rescued.





	Down in the Dumps

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this based on a prompt given to me on [my Alphys sideblog](http://amazingalphys.tumblr.com/post/169327296659/thank-you-anon-for-the-prompt-and-sorry-it).

Alphys was always afraid that someone with questions would run into her when she was out of the lab, but there were days when the weight of what she had done made her feel like she was suffocating in there.

The dump was her refuge when she felt like that.  And, honestly, it was where she belonged.  Maybe someday she’d - well, she wasn’t going to think about that.  Today wasn’t that day.

Sorting through garbage was second nature, at this point.  Alphys could recognize something valuable to her (a dvd case, a piece of human tech, an intact anime figure, etc) from just the smallest corner poking out in the middle of an enormous pile of trash.  If she didn’t spot anything right away, she wasn’t bothered just digging her claws right into the mess.  

She was in luck, that evening.  She saw what looked like a dog’s chew toy poking right out of a huge stack of new garbage.  Woshua had been hard at work, sorting.  That was perfect!  Endogeny got bored, but she was paranoid about buying too many dog related things.  People might suspect something.

Alphys grabbed onto it and yanked, and that was when her luck ran out.  

Despite her years of work in engineering, she hadn’t realized it was a _load_   _bearing_ chew toy.  She let out one high pitched yelp and the whole mountain of garbage toppled onto her.  Something hard - the broken television she had noticed earlier? - rapped against her head and for a little while, everything went dark.

Everything  _stayed_ dark when she regained consciousness.  If she’d forgotten what happened, the overpowering smell of garbage reminded her.  

“Hello?” Alphys called.  "Uh…g-god…this is embarrassing…“  She took as deep a breath as she could and called out louder.  "Um…hello?”

There was no answer. She’d been hoping at least Woshua would be around, ready to fix the now disorganized pile and free her.  

Her phone was barely accessible.  She managed to get it into her hand, but then couldn’t move her arm enough to actually see the screen.  Its light filtered through the trash.  

“H-help!” she yelled.  An old candy wrapper got into her mouth.  

Maybe this was how it was supposed to be.  Maybe she was supposed to end up like this - suffocating in a pile of garbage, like just another piece of it.  

She should just stay here.

She closed her eyes. Things had been…almost okay, for a little while.  Meeting the head of the royal guard and talking to her on the edge of the waterfall had cleared her head.  They’d met a couple other times, just running into each other around the Underground, and Undyne had been so interested in what she had to say.  Like it mattered to her, genuinely.  

And she’d been right in the middle of season two of her third favorite anime.  And the Amalgamates needed someone to feed them, soon, right?  And the King had asked her over to tea the next day.  And…well, she thought that if she kept coming down to the dump, she might run into Undyne again, and she’d been looking forward to that.

“Help!” She yelled, again.  Silence answered her.

She fumbled with the phone she couldn’t see.  Ok…if she swiped this way, she unlocked it, right?  With her eyes closed, she could almost picture the screen.  Her contacts would be down on the left side.  The list was fairly sparse, after her recent deleting and blocking spree, but Asgore was on there, and Sans.  He might…well, he wouldn’t physically do anything, but he might mention something to his brother.  Undyne was on there.  

This was part of Undyne’s job, right?  She was supposed to rescue people from…stupid embarrassing accidents.

Alphys hovered over where she thought Undyne would be on the list.  This was such an awful way to meet again, but…at least they would be meeting again? It wasn’t like she thought Undyne would ever be attracted to her, or even  _really_  like her.  Undyne would probably laugh at her predicament.  But…Alphys would be out of this garbage, and she’d get to see her again and…and maybe…she’d lift Alphys out of the garbage with her strong arms, and…

She hit the button and immediately regretted the decision.  She fumbled with her phone, trying to hang up, but in her panic she lost track of where her hand was on the screen.

“Hey, if it isn’t the Royal Scientist!  I thought you hated talking on the phone!  It’s great to hear from you!”  Undyne’s abrasive voice was a soothing melody to Alphys’ ears.

“Uh…it’s even better for me to h-hear from you, because, um…I kind of have a problem and I’m, um…st-stuck."  

"On like…a science problem?  I’ll give it a shot, but you know that nerd stuff isn’t for me, Alphys.”

“N-no, like, literally!  Everything suddenly fell on me, and–”

“You’re at the lab?”  Undyne interrupted.  "I’m on my way!“

"No!  No, it’s the garbage dump.  I feel so stupid, I–”

“TWO SECONDS and I’ll be right there!”  The line went dead.

Alphys sighed.  That was as humiliating as she’d expected.  Her face was hot, her head hurt, and she was probably going to smell like trash for the rest of her life.  She should have called Mettaton.  Maybe he would have sent someone.

Undyne wasn’t lying about how long it would take her.

“Holy shit!  I’M HERE FOR YOU, ALPHYS!  JUST STAY WITH ME!”

“Um, I’m…right in here!  And I’m ok!”

She heard objects being moved, and blue light started to shine in through the gaps Undyne made as she dug her out.  Undyne grinned as soon as she saw her and picked her up out of the mess.

“Th-thank you so much, Undyne,” Alphys said, her voice muffled by her own hands.  She had to cover her face out of embarrassment.  She was pretty sure she’d die if she looked at Undyne for longer than a few seconds.  "You really saved me.“

"That’s what I’m here for!”  Undyne said.  "Looks like you hit your head pretty bad.“

"I only lost a few HP, so once I eat something I should heal right back up."  

"No healer?  You’re tougher than you look!”  Undyne said.  "C'mon!“

"I can wa–” But Undyne was off running, escorting her back to the lab at full speed.  Alphys peeked through her hands, a few times, but the ground rushing below them made her dizzy.  


End file.
